“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
(Colossians 2:6,7, The New Living Translation)
I want to share with you the cry of my heart. My spirit aches with the desire to stir up hunger and thirst for God’s precious Word within each of you, my readers. For too long, our churches have kept us on milk, when actually spiritual maturity requires meat – the meat of the Word. Granted, if you give a newborn solid food before he or she is ready, they will choke. BUT. Once that child is 7 or 8…25 or 30? It’s high time they begin to chew on some meat.
Or, better yet, get out a shovel and DIG!
That sounded critical, didn’t it? I’m sorry. It’s just that there is such a wealth of riches untold in His Word. Sometimes I feel like I will bust because I want so much to ignite a flame within those I come in contact with. It is sad to me that most of us do not know what our Bibles contain. The Word of God is His love letter to us. It is our inheritance. It is a fountain of Living Water beckoning to us to come and drink, to drink deeply of its life source.
The Lord wants us to feast on His Word every day.
Paul told the Church at Colosse after they had accepted Jesus as their Lord they were to follow Him – become His disciple, to walk out their faith IN Him. He wanted them to take the next step. Paul wanted them to KNOW the One in Whom they had believed.
Isn’t it interesting that we are told to let our ‘roots’ grow deep?
Consider Isaiah 61:1-3, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
“That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Can you see God’s purposes here?
JESUS came to set us free, to heal our broken hearts, to comfort and console, to forgive us of our sins so that we could be reconciled to our Creator. With what result? That we would be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Why? That He might be glorified through us.
Every tree begins with a tiny seed. But then that seed takes root. It sends out a tap root to find the stream of water that will sustain it during the harshest of droughts. Before long a precious sprout breaks through the hard crust that held it captive and stretches its branches toward the sun.
And then it grows and drinks and basks in the light of day.
And then it grows some more and drinks and basks in the light of day.
And before too long that tiny seed has grown into a mighty oak or a delicate dogwood. Perhaps the seed becomes a Cedar of Lebanon or a red-leaf maple bringing joy to all that partake of its glory.
The point is: the seed GREW and glorified its Creator.
Beloved, LET your roots grow deep. LET your lives be built on Him. An adventure awaits that cannot be described. The Lord will reveal His mysteries to you. You will learn to hear His voice, to recognize His promptings. You will know beyond the shadow of any doubt that you are not alone and that you are loved beyond comprehension.
I’m excited! Just think…the planting of the Lord, rooted in Him, established in Him, becoming like Him.
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – Who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Father, This was another strong word that You have given us, but we thank You for loving us enough to care. We know that You desire Your best for us, and that best can only come by learning Who You are and who we are to You. I ask You to stir up that hunger within us. Ignite the flame of Your Holy Spirit and set us aglow with Your love. Enlighten the eyes of our hearts to understand Your Word. Awaken our hearts to love You more. Thank You, Father. We give You praise.
Your desires come straight from the heart of God! He is even more interested than us that we increase in knowledge and revelation of His precious Person. He is seeking true worshippers that earnestly, fervently seek His face and His ways. His wonderful Word as interpreted by the Holy Spirit in us will guide us closer and closer to Jesus, our Salvation and the Messiah. Surely anyone who comes to the Word with a thirsty heart will be more than satisfied! He desires to fill our cups to the brim!
Great wisdom is given to those that come, with fear of the Lord, with reverence, and bow down before the Jesus, the Truth that was revealed in our hearts when we were saved and continues to be revealed so that we'll KNOW Him more intimately with each passing day.
My prayer is that every time we read the Word it will come alive to us, and bring us to the Eternal Word of God, to Jesus. Then we will keep coming, because the sweetness of His milk and honey, and yes, His nutritious meat, will draw us to Him, again and again.
Emet v'Emunah. He is True and Faithful. That is His will for His children. And we WILL hear His voice. And we WILL come. May we grow more discerning in HEARING the voice of our Shepherd from any voice of strangers.
Amen, Carina!! Amen! I don't know about Argentina, but here in America the Word of God is taken for granted! In some ways it is more of a trophy than words of LIFE. I believe Satan has deceived the Church into believing God's Word is too complicated to understand. But, when you know the author, His explanations are perfect, His divine revelations amazing. Nothing can satisfy the longing soul like Jesus and His Word. And to grow and mature in our faith, we must feast on it daily.
I believe it must be pretty much the same everywhere. In Buenos Aires, most preachers who appear on the radio or on TV have a noticeable "prosperity gospel" orientation. Perhaps not quite as bad as some of the worst examples in the States but pretty humanistic in my opinion. I haven't visited many churches so I couldn't tell how serious this trend is.
And it's not that what they preach is necessarily wrong but… It's kind of shallow. I've noticed they tend to repeat the topics of the messages. They preach on a different passage, but the basic message is the same! Week after week… I left my first evangelical church for that reason. Would it sound too unspiritual to say I was bored? But it was more than boredom. I just needed to be fed on a different menu. "Just milk" left me hungry!
Anyway, I don't mean to be critical of these ministers, may the Lord help them! I just think the Church worldwide would greatly benefit if pastors really dug deep for the treasures in the Word and stopped underestimating the sheep. Surely, some are lambs and cannot eat meat. But others are mature, chronically undernourished sheep!
I feel my roots (in the Lord and in His Word) growing deeper and deeper…holding me up…giving me strength. Now, as I "leaf out", I long to reach others as you do!! What a thought~great post!!
I have a poem about a seed…will post it on Graffiti.
Ani ohevet otach!!
Carina, I agree. I think we have forgotten the Holiness of God. The Lord used my Jewish brothers & sisters to remind me of this vital component to our relationship with Him.
Mid,I'll hang from your branch any day! Can't wait to read your poem. Carina, you need to check out Mid's stuff. You will love her work at http://www.midspoint.com. Hey Mid, what does Ani ohevet otach!! mean? I'll bet it has something to do with love. 🙂
I think it's "I love you". I did visit Mid's page and loved it. I think I even posted a couple of comments. Will check back soon.
I love our common Hebrew roots and have been interested in Judaism (Messianic or Traditional) for as long as I remember.
Carina, I think our kindred spirits are amazing! I am thankful that you visited Mid's site. We have never met in person. We met on Twitter and have become fast friends. She is a Messianic Jew and her writing is…WOW!! I'm a huge fan. Bless you sweet friend.